Dry cell.



DRY CELL.

APPLICATION men AUG.23, 191a Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

INVENTOR. H-F. FRENCH M m. mmzn ;.a0/W ATTORNEY TTNTTED @TATE% PATENTFFTCE.

HARRY F. FRENCH AND RAYMOND C. BENNER, OF FREMONT, OHIO, ASSIGNORS, BYMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, IN C., A CORPORATION OFNEW YORK.

DRY CELL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 25, ll9il9.

Application filed August 23, 1916. Serial No. 116,429.

Toall whom it may concern: I

Be it known that wve, HARRY F. FRENCH and RAYMOND C. BENNER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Fremont, in the county of Sandusky andState of Ohio, have invented. a certain new and useful Improvement inDry Cells, of which thewfollowing is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to dry cells of the Leclanch type. Dry cells, asusually made, consist of a carbon electrode inside a zinc container,having a paper lining in which is packed a mixture of manganese peroxidand carbon moistened with an electrolyte of ammonium and zinc chlorids.

There is also a type of cell in which the mix of pyrolusite and carbonis molded into cartridge-form around the carbon rod. This is .wrappedwith cheesecloth, or similar fabric, and placed in the zinc can Withoutthe paper lining. An electrolyte of paste or liquid is then poured intothe cell to fill up the spaces between the cartridge and the zinc.

We have devised an improvement whereby the paper lining and thecheesecloth wrapping can be omitted, thereby giving a cell of superiorquality. In the appended description, reference is made to the drawingsin which:

Figure l is a longitudinal section of a dry cell embodying theinvention. I

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the cartridge used in the cell.

To make a cell in accordance with the invention, one or more bibulousdisks 8 are placed on the bottom 9 of the zinc can 2, and then the canis poured full of a paste that may vary according to the purpose towvhich the cell is put. .The paste that we have used to advantageconsists of from 25 to 40% flour and 7 to 60% water. The can is nextplaced in boiling water for a period of from 5 to seconds, which cooks athin film 1 of the raw paste immediately adjacent to the zinc 2. The canis then removed from the boiling water and inverted to pour out all ofthe paste that does not stick to the zinc can. The thin cooked film ofpaste adheres very tenaciously to the zinc and therefore practically theremainder of the paste is poured out of the cell.

A cartridge (Fig. 2) consisting of a mix 3 of depolarizer and carbonmolded around a central carbon rod 4, is then added to the can. Thiscartridge has no bibulous wrapping as is usual and is made of such sizethat water where it is allowed toremain for about one and one-halfminutes. It is then removed and the usual packing 6 of paper,

sawdust or sand, is placed on top of the cartridge as shown. Thecustomary pitch seal 7 completes the manufacture of the cell .with theexception of an inclosing jacket of paper which is not. shown on thedrawing as it forms no part of the invention.

Cells made in this way have a low resistance as there is no layer ofpaper or cloth between the zinc and the mix.

Many other pasty or jelly-like materials have been or may be used in drycells as substitutes for the flour paste described. For example, thefollowing are well known The vegetable pastes, such as gelatin, starch,agar; the animal materials such as glues; the mineral gels such ascoloidal silicic acid, etc. Our invention is applicable to such and andtherefore the claims are not to be re stricted to any particular paste.

As a Variation, the paste can be applied to the zinc by a brush or by aspray, and then cooked in the way outlined.

The cooking of the second addition of paste can be avoided by employingchemical thickening agents such as zinc chlorid solution. F or thispurpose we have used 5 volumes paste and 3 volumes zinc chlorid withgood results, the latter being 60% chlorid and .water.

Instead of following the exact process outllned it will be permissibleto place the unwrapped cartridge in the can, keeping it central byspacers or otherwise, and then to pour the paste into the annular space.The paste can be afterward cooked as previously outlined.

As a further modification, we propose to tamp the mix into the can afterthe lining of paste has been cooked on the can and dried, or otherwisesu'liiciently hardened, as by means of glue or other hardening agent.

Having described our invention, what we claim is:

1. The steps in the process of making a dry cell, which consist inmolding a mix around a carbon electrode to form a cartridge, applyingpasty material to the inside of a zinc can, adding the said cartridgeand cooking the paste to form an adherent layer on the inner surface ofthe zinc.

2. The steps in the process of making a dry cell, which consist inmolding a mix around a carbon electrode to form a cartridge, applyingpasty material to the inside of a zinc can, cooking it to form a thinadherent lining on the inner surface of the zinc, placing the cartridgein the zinc and pouring additional pasty material between said cartridgeand the zinc can.

3. The steps in the process of making a dry cell, which consist infilling a zinc can with paste, placing the same in boiling Water to cooka thin adherent film of paste on the inner surface of the zinc can,pouring out the remainder of the paste, applying an unwrapped cartridgeto the inside of the can and pouring the paste around the cartridge tofill up the space between the cartridge and the zinc can.

In testimony whereof, We hereunto aflix 25 our signatures.

HARRY F. FRENCH. RAYMOND O. BENNER.

